Friday, February 28, 2014

DANVILLE, KY - The Calvin baseball team escaped the frozen wonder winterland of West Michigan and officially opened its 2014 season in the less frigid climate of Kentucky Friday afternoon and evening. Calvin opened the day with a 7-3 loss to Defiance College of Ohio but came back to defeat the host Colonels of Centre 6-1 in an evening matchup. Calvin is back in action on Saturday, taking on Defiance College at noon at Centre’s baseball complex.

Friday, February 28, 2014

The Calvin baseball team is set to kick off its season tomorrow afternoon in Kentucky when it faces Defiance College at 3 p.m. and host Centre College at 6 p.m. Calvin is coming off a season where it posted an overall record of 16-25 and a conference record of 15-13 that was good for fourth place in the league standings. The Knights were recently picked to finish fourth in the MIAA preseason coaches’ poll.Under the direction of head coach John Sparks, the Knights return 19 returning letterwinners from last year’s team including first team All-MIAA selection Grant VanPutten who established a Calvin single-season record last year for stolen bases. VanPutten (Holland/Holland Christian HS) was also received all-region honors from both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association after batting .426 with 41 runs scored and 23 stolen bases.Also returning is sophomore shortstop Jalen Bouma (Ann Arbor/Ann Arbor Huron HS) who was named to the All-MIAA second team last spring. Calvin returns its entire pitching rotation from last year as well as seniors Jack Jorgenson (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran HS), Cory Laster (Ludington/Ludington HS), Grant VanderWall (Wyomingt/South Christian HS), Jeff Victor (Holland/Holland Christian HS) and junior Nate Schepers (Holland/Holland Christian HS) Jeremy Kamp (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian HS) all saw time as starters in Calvin’s pitching rotation last spring. In addition to Bouma and VanPutten, returning starters in the field include senior catcher Kyle Spoelma (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS), sophomore third baseman Travis Kraai (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS), junior second baseman Ben Wohl (Canton/Plymouth HS), and sophomore Jordan VanderWall (Wyoming/South Christian HS) in left field.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

ROYAL OAK, Mich. – The Calvin baseball team has been picked to finish fourth in the MIAA preseason coaches’ poll while defending co-champion Adrian has been picked as the preseason favorite to win the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association baseball championship. Adrian received seven out of a possible eight first-place votes in the preseason poll of the league’s coaches. Coaches could not vote for their own team. Hope, which was picked to finish second, received the other first-place vote. Calvin returns several letterwinners from a team that finished fourth in the MIAA standings last year and gained its first-ever MIAA Tournament berth.
MIAA Preseason Poll Results (first-place votes in parenthesis):
1. Adrian (7) 7 pts. 2. Hope (1) 13. 3. Trine 21. 4. Calvin 28. 5. Alma 35. 6. Albion 38. T7. Kalamazoo 41. T7. Olivet 41

Schools will begin non-conference play on February 23, with conference action to begin on March 13 when Calvin travels to Kalamazoo for a doubleheader.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

ALBION, Mich. – David L. Neilson, the commissioner of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association since 2002, has announced he will retire from the position at the conclusion of the 2013-14 academic year. The announcement of Commissioner Neilson’s retirement came Tuesday from Dr. Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, president of Kalamazoo College and vice chairwoman of the MIAA Presidents’ Council. He is the eighth and third-longest serving commissioner in the MIAA’s 126-year history. Commissioner Neilson and his wife, Karen, live in Royal Oak. They have four children and five grandchildren. The MIAA is the nation’s oldest collegiate athletic conference, founded in 1888. The MIAA consists of nine private colleges from Michigan and northern Indiana. Member institutions are Adrian College, Albion College, Alma College, Calvin College, Hope College, Kalamazoo College, Olivet College, Saint Mary’s College and Trine University.

Monday, July 15, 2013

At Calvin College, the sports management major is still largely in its infancy. 2007 was the first year students graduated with a degree from the program, and as with anything new, there is bound to be an adjustment period. Luckily, Calvin has seen three recent graduates see success working together in the box office of the Detroit Tigers’ single-A affiliate, the West Michigan Whitecaps. Dean Exoo (’07) works in advertising and sales, while Nick Caudle (’07) and J.D. Triemstra (’09) are ticket sales executives. All three spent time as student workers for Jim Timmer and went on to do graduate work in sports management at Western Michigan University. Their work figures to add a strong dose of credibility to the program and encourage further success in current and incoming students.

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

The 2012-13 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Academic - Honor Roll has been announced by Commissioner David Neilson and a record 151 Calvin scholar-athletes have been named to the list.The honor roll recognizes scholar-athletes who achieve a minimum 3.5 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) for the entire 2012-13 academic year. A student needed to have won a varsity letter in a sport to be eligible. The MIAA Academic Honor Roll program was initiated in 1990 to recognize students at MIAA member colleges who excel both in athletics and in the classroom.This year’s Honor Roll includes several students who achieved the distinction four consecutive years. Of the students, seven are from Calvin.The seven Calvin scholar-athletes named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll for a fourth straight year are seniors Job Christiansen (New Ipswich, NH/Mascenic Regional HS), Eric Doornbos (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS), Matt DeBoer (Hudsonville, MI/Covenant Christian HS), Jordan Ipema (Kalamazoo/Kalamazoo Christian HS), Kelsey Irwin (Fraser, MI, /Fraser HS), Dan Kerr (Petoskey/Petoskey HS) and Greg Whittle (Galesburg, IL/Galesburg HS).

Thursday, June 06, 2013

For the 18th consecutive year, Calvin has posted a top 25 finish in the final NCAA III Learfield Sports Directors Cup standings, finishing 15th in the nation in Division III in 2012-13 with a total of 651.0 points. Calvin is one of only six schools in the country to finish in the top 25 every year that the competition has been held at the NCAA III level.Joining Calvin in that elite group are Williams, Mass., Amherst, Mass., Middlebury, Vt., the State University of New York at Cortland and Emory, Ga. Williams won the title as the best athletics program in the nation in Division III by winning with a score of 1,273.75 points. The Cup is presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and Learfield Sports to the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country, and is based on points earned by teams that compete in NCAA Championship events.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Calvin College sophomore Grant Van Putten has been named to the D3baseball.com All-Mideast Region second team. In addition, he has been named to the American Baseball Coaches Association All-Mideast Region third team. A native of Holland and a graduate of Holland Christian High School, Van Putten put together a record-breaking year for the Calvin baseball team this spring. Van Putten batted .426 this spring for the Knights while playing a stellar centerfield. Van Putten’s final season average of .426 is the third-highest single-season average in Calvin history, surpassed only by the .442 average of Ken Stuursma in 1987 and the .463 mark of T. J. Cummings in 1994. His season total of 63 hits is also a new Calvin single-season record as is his season total of 23 stolen bases. Van Putten now has 44 career stolen bases and is the Calvin career record holder in that category as well. In addition, his 41 runs scored this spring is the second-highest single-season total in Calvin baseball history. Finally, his total of 85 total bases is also second on the Calvin single-season list.

Thursday, May 09, 2013

HOLLAND - The 2013 Calvin baseball season came to an end with a 4-3 loss in 11 innings in an elimination game at the MIAA Tournament at Hope College Thursday afternoon. Calvin finishes the season with an overall record of 16-25. Calvin was making its first appearance in the MIAA Tournament this week. The Knights were defeated by Hope 7-3 in a first round game Wednesday. In Thursday’s loss to Trine, Calvin outhit the Thunder 11-7 but stranded 10 base runners. Calvin also failed to hold a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning as the Thunder scored two runs in the top of the eighth to tie the game and then scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th. Sophomore Grant Van Putten and senior Tyler Tos had three hits apiece. Van Putten finished with a Calvin single-season record total of 63 hits while also finishing with a season batting average of .426 - the third-highest single-season average in Calvin baseball history. Senior Ben Cok also finished with a Calvin single-season record of 32 walks.